People Like Us

Journal Entry One: David Brooks, “People Like Us”, pages 22-28 of Across Cultures Q: Brooks maintains that people like to group themselves with others who are similar to themselves. What factors are mentioned that might provide a center of association for individuals? A: Some factors Brook mentions which causes individuals to group themselves together are economical status, background, level of education, and geography. As brook states “We are finding places where we are comfortable and feel we can flourish” (23). For example, people are aware that in order to run a business such as a motor-home business they have to go to a place such as Monroe, County Pennsylvania since they will wind a massive amount of people who share this passion. Another factor that Brooks related to was to whom you marry. Brook mentions “Americans tend more and more to marry people with education levels similar to their own, and befriend people with background similar to their own, it is human nature” (24). As brook argues, people want to be around others who share similarities and a common background. This is just the way that most people think they will be more satisfied. Q: In paragraphs 13 and 14, Brooks argues that “institutions that talk most about diversity often practice it the least” What evidence does he use to support this statement? Rodriguez 2

A: As Brooks says elite universities {Institutions that talk the most about diversity} often practice it the least. An example that Brooks mentions in his essay is “How no group of people sing the diversity anthem more frequently and fervently than administrators at just such elite universities” (25). This quote represents Brooks argument directly because if elite universities talk so much about diversity, how come they are the ones that practice it the least? In fact, a study done by the Conservative Center for the Study and Popular Culture and the American Enterprise...

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...﻿Andrew Meiborg
Dr. Mary P. Dalles
English 1130-07
2 April 2014
Response to “PeopleLikeUs”
In the essay “PeopleLikeUs”, Brooks states that maybe we are indeed a diverse nation when considered as a whole, but when you look at us on the community level, we are homogenous. Brooks describes numerous ways in which Americans separate themselves from one another. Overall, I agree with the points made by Brooks and can draw many similarities to my own life. For example, when Brooks describes how our towns or cities can become racially homogenized.
“PeopleLikeUs” begins by Brooks giving some examples of how people isolate themselves. Many people think of race when they think of diversity, but that is not the only aspect described by Brooks. He takes a look at racial, geographical, background, and work place diversity. People are very capable of finding the seemingly smallest differences between themselves. They will even make some of their biggest life choices based off of these differences. By drawing these subtle distinctions we continue to surround ourselves with people more and more likeus, causing certain areas to have certain characteristics.
Brooks goes on to state that our cities and neighborhoods are becoming more and more...

...PeopleLikeUs
In PeopleLikeUs, David Brooks suggests that maybe America isn¡¯t as diverse as we all say it is. That maybe no one really cares about diversity as much as they claim to. And, he may be right. Have you ever been to a school cafeteria? People group together into different racial and social groups. It¡¯s more comfortable to be around people similar to us, and comfort is what America is all about.
It¡¯s human nature to want to be around people similar to us. Some wise man once said ¡°Birds of a feather flock together¡±, and he was right. Housing prices create very different neighborhoods, the rich hang out with the rich and the poor hang out with the poor. This is just the way it is.
Is this a bad thing? I don¡¯t really think so. If it is, there is really only one solution I could come up with. We create one ¡°Super Race¡±. The government issues a law. You must marry and reproduce with someone of a different race. Example- Say, you are a white male. You have to find an Asian or African American woman to have kids with. Over time, maybe a century, with enough reproduction, we will all become one race.
Problem solved.
Now, onto some other ideas I¡¯ve had. The other day I thought up this idea to create a Haunted Hotel. Imagine this, it¡¯s like a haunted house...

...Part 1: Summary of "PeopleLikeUs" by David Brooks
Peoplelikeus is an article about America's diversity, well actually it's about the lack of diversity within our diverse culture. Mr. Brooks proclaims that America boasts for being an extremely diverse society; but he shows many examples of how America is still segregated by choice, by habits and other measurable categories. Mr. Brooks proclaims that people of the same race and income level tend to flock together and live in the same communities. Some examples of this is Black's tend to live in the same neighborhoods by class, being low income, middle class, upper middle. He also says people move to areas that are known for certain characteristics such as mountain bikers moving to a certain city because that city is known be to have a large mountain biker population. Mr. Brooks says trends and tendencies like this makes America less diversified and this makes most places look the same as other neighborhoods in other area with the same type of people. People look for cultural affinity and move there.
Mr. Brooks spends a lot of time explaining high end professions tend to have certain commonalities such as most college professors who teach Sociology tend to be democrats. So in return they only hire other democrats to fill vacant positions, thus eliminating diversity in...

...PeoplelikeUs
On the essay “Peoplelikeus” David Brook’s main purpose is to discuss the increasing diversity in America. This essay is a master piece of intelligence and organized ideas. A reader can grab that in his first sentence. “We all pay lip service to the melting pot, but we really prefer the congealing pot.” The writer uses relative concept with very effective language. He uses strong diction, logical tone and complex syntax.
The writer’s choice of words is very effective and persuasive. He uses words not only from dictionary but the meanings can be visualized by the reader. For example, when he gives example of “The bell curve” the whole scenario comes in the readers mind. His last sentence “Look around at your daily life. Are you really in touch with the broad diversity of American life? Do you care?” has a thought provoking effect.
Brook tone is emotional and he uses pathos, repeatedly, as he says “It is appalling that Americans know so little about one another. It is appalling that many of us are so narrow-minded that we can't tolerate a few people with ideas significantly different from our own. It's appalling that evangelical Christians are practically absent from entire professions, such as academia, the media, and filmmaking. It's appalling that people should be content to cut themselves off from everyone unlike...

...﻿Jesse Salisbury
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...Ivanna Mejia
Professor Andrew Warburton
Essay #3
October 22, 2012
David Brooks’ “PeopleLikeUs” Analysis
Many individuals interpret diversity differently specifically in the United States because of its melting pot of distinct cultures and lifestyles. In his essay “PeopleLikeUs”, David Brooks’ argues that although the United States is a diverse nation as a whole, it is homogeneous in specific aspects like interactions between people. To some extent, his observation is true; people tend to stick to what or who they are comfortable with. There are also exceptions where the American people attempt to establish relationships with others because of their desire to expand out of their norm. For instance, Brooks excludes the explanation of diversity integration in the United States, where instead focuses on racial integration as the definition of diversity in America. He also makes assumptions that people purposefully intend to segregate themselves and underestimates their capability of living together because of their location, political values and personal appeal.
Because of the United States’ history and the racism that once existed, racial integration is now a main objective in the country. Even though racial integration is a component of diversity, it is not the only demographic that defines diversity. Brooks...

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Describe the opportunities and threats that face your company.
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...Girls LikeUs
Girls LikeUs is an intimate portrayal concerning four girls who grew up all with different ethnic backgrounds and various forms of parental guidence. Anna Chau is Vietnames with strict parents and good beliefs, Lisa Bronca is a Caucasion Catholic, De'Yonna Moore is African-American with strong goals who lives with her Grandma and Raelene Cox is a young white girl who comes from a broken home with little parental guidence. Girls LikeUs shows examples of structural functionism, and conflict theory, as well as symbolic interactionalism. This movie really intersted me because I actually got to see each of these girls grow up. This film also contained implications for the science of sociology.
I believe that the main point of the movie Girls LikeUs was to show examples of how different lifestyles could have an impact on young girls growing up today. It actually showed these different girls at different important stages in their lives so we got to see how strong their goals were at the beginning, and how they changed with time and maturity. It showed how family history and ethnic diversity has an important role in the lives of young girls. It was a good way to show how lifestyles in general impacted each of these girls futures in so many ways. It takes four girls all with different families and different religious beliefs and asks them about...